Slave who died in 1798 gets funeral

The remains of the man known as Mr. Fortune will lie in state in Hartford, Conn. NBC’s Rehema Ellis reports.

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>>>finally tonight it took over two centuries but the
final chapter
was written today for a man long forgotten. he was a slave who worked and died in
connecticut
. today he was finally shown the dignity he never experienced in life. his story tonight from nbc's rehema ellis.

>> reporter: lying in state at the
capitol rotunda
in hartford,
connecticut
, one of the state's highest honors offered to few but today granted to a slave named
fortune
whose story is part of america's painful past.

>>he is finally getting the respect that he so well deserved.

>> reporter: in the
1700sfortune
was a slave and along with his wife and four children the legal property of dr. preserved porter. he worked on the porter's waterbury farm until his death in
1798
. an inventory of dr. porter's estate in the early
1800s
includes items including a sleigh, ladder, skeleton -- presumed to be
fortune
's -- valued at $15 and his living widow valued at $10. dr. porter was a physician. many descendants followed in his footsteps. with other local doctors actually used
fortune
's bones to study
human anatomy
. in death as in life, without his consent. in the
1900s
they donated
fortune
's remains to the museum.

>>he's like the legacy that slaves were as human as anyone else.

>> reporter: anthropologists and artists created images of what he may have looked like in life. today his funeral at st. john's episcopal search which is where, according to records,
fortune
was baptized more than two centuries ago. hundreds gathered to pay their respects.

>>the way you recall brcelebrate a life.

>>it's an amazing thing to me. i'm so happy to be a part of it.

>> reporter: more than 200 years after his death and a life of servitude and hardship, a slave named
fortune
was finally buried with dignity. rehema ellis, nbc news, waterbury,
connecticut
.